The Lion in Winter
Did you realize that in 1998-2001 – a four-year period – Rick Helling was 33-15 in 67 starts at Ameriquest Field in Arlington?
Actually it was The Ballpark in Arlington back then and the Rangers went 45-22 when Helling took the mound in those 67 games at a park that was supposed to be ill-fitted for pitchers, especially for a guy who was known as the ultimate fly ball pitcher.
Helling, who hasn’t pitched for the Rangers since 2001, announced his retirement from baseball on Monday and the news caused a hardly ripple anywhere, with the possible exception of North Dakota.
Certainly not in Texas where they are still wondering if the Rangers will have enough pitching this year and the mailbag is constantly filled with questions about when the club is going to attract a big-name pitcher and a No. 1 starter.
They had Helling, but he wasn’t good enough so they unceremoniously discarded him after the 2001 season and signed Chan Ho Park instead. Park had averaged 15 wins over the five previous seasons for the Dodgers while Helling had averaged, hmmm, 15 wins a season for the Rangers.
"But this guy has nasty stuff," Alex Rodriguez told me that first Spring when Chan Ho arrived and Helling had moved on to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Nobody ever accused Helling of having nasty stuff, unless it was that team in the Minor Leagues that he threw a perfect game against. He was mainly fastball and still remember the playoff game against the Yankees in the Bronx when he threw nothing but fastballs inning after inning after inning.
He allowed two runs in 61/3 innings and struck out eight but the Rangers couldn’t score and lost 3-1. They scored two runs in six games in two playoff series against the Yankees in 1998-99 but it was always the pitching that people worried about even though Aaron Sele, John Wetteland and Jeff Zimmerman were All-Stars and Helling was a 20-game winner.
He was 20-7 with a 4.41 ERA in 1998, and 4-0 with a 2.76 ERA in September. The Rangers entered the month 21/2 games behind the Angels but Helling was terrific that month and they won their second division title in three years.
But people don’t remember that, they remember only the playoff failures. They don’t remember that the Rangers went into Anaheim tied for first place late in the season and swept a three-game series.
Todd Stottlemyre won the first game and then Helling beat the Angels, 9-1 on Sept. 22, throwing a five-hitter through eight innings and the Rangers were only leading 1-0 through six.
Those games have faded from memory, just as the back-to-back complete games by John Burkett and Ken Hill over the Angels in late September of 1996 that saved the Rangers from total collapse and may be the two most important games in club history.
Around here they remember Nolan Ryan’s two no-hitters and his 5,000th strikeout and Kenny Rogers perfect game, although neither pitcher, as good as they were, never appeared in post-season for the Rangers.
Helling did. He and Sele combined for 70 wins in two seasons and then were gone just like that and the Rangers have been looking for pitching ever since. They won 39 between them in 1998 and only once has a pair of Rangers pitchers combine to win more.
Ferguson Jenkins and Jimmy Bibby won 44 games between them in 1974. Nobody ever had a season for the Rangers quite like Jenkins did in 1974, but the Rangers didn’t make the playoffs that year either.
They did when Helling was their No. 1 starter and they haven’t been back since then. On Monday, Helling retired.
T.R. Sullivan
Toby
The Angels were so heartbroken that year after losing to us that they decided to copy our uniforms! Helling and Sele were such a huge part of those teams, just as much as the bullpen, although I think Rusty, Will, and Juando get the lion’s share of the credit. It’s a shame that they couldn’t put it together against the Yankees, but in those years nobody could. Still, those were good years in the life of a Rangers fan.
One very clear memory of Rick Helling: the radio interview he gave the night he won his 20th game in 1998 – it was a late night West Coast game – he was very emotional especially when he dedicated the win and his season to his brother (who died under tragic circumstances).
Helling was a great competitor and I disagreed with the Park signing. He didn’t have the greatest stuff, but he could locate that fastball. Location, and mixing it up are just as good as a 95 mph heater, I would say it is better. Sianara Rick Helling
On another note, I like the Bruce Chen signing, what do people think about that? His winter has been stellar, and maybe he can continue some of that success into ST and the season….hopefully.
The former Houston Rockets coach Rudy T. once said, “Never underestimate the heart of a champion.”
The corollary is you can’t measure heart with a radar gun
To me, Helling was a workhorse, much as Pavlik, Ken Hill, Sele and Burkett. Seems to me, the whole staff was only “mildly” talented or gifted, but they were all workhorses, were pretty darned effective, and ate up innings. Like pantherparent says, “Helling had the heart of a champion”, but so did the other Ranger starters.
What fond memories they provided us, being it was our very first division title–EVER! IF, we could only go back to the Ranger Red, which Anaheim/Los Angeles or whatever they call themselves today, STOLE from us. What front office “Einstein” ever wanted to change back to
“Futile Blues” anyway? The empty golf shirt perhaps? Ah, yes, Rick, we remember ya well. Good work and thank you for helping make us a winner—well, okay, even if it’s been nearly 10 years-but who’s counting?
Why did we let Sele walk? That is one of Melvin’s shrewdest deals ever. This was and Hicks biggest mistake getting rid of Melvin. Milwaukee will win a championship before Texas does!
Helling was a gamer, plain and simple. But so also were guys like Hill, Greer, Tettleton, Clark, Witt and Burkett.
If you have enough of ‘em, guys like that win titles. We haven’t had enough of them lately.
Hey dwidregod, I could be proven wrong, but I don’t think so on this: Aaron Sele was from the Seattle area where he grew up and I think he had a desire to return home when free agency sprung it’s UGLY head. That is the best of my recollection, but I believe it to be true. I’m not sure if the Rangers matched any of the offers or made any attempt to seriously re-sign him. A mistake, of course. (As is the norm with the recent architect of Rangers’ “Futile Blues” uniforms, aka, “the empty golf shirt”). GO RANGER RED! I want to start the bandwagon rolling amongst our beloved bloggers to reign in RANGER RED, which Anaheim stole. Notice they started winning and took the World Series too? Hmmmm, must be something to that. In the name of Wayne Tolleson, please let’s move away from blue to bloody red.
It’s gonna take more than RANGER RED to get above 3rd or 4th place this year. We’ll see just how serious Hicks and Co. is as they work to sign Young and Texieria. My guess is, neither will be in a Ranger uniform after their current contract expires, no matter what color the uniform might be.
Hicks team colors are green people, $10.00 parking, $7.00 beer, TV revenue and other high prices. Too bad he doesn’t re-invest in his product. Since we are talking team colors, I have a question. What are the colors of the Liverpool Reds the soccer club in England? I personally have a problem with Hicks paying $225 million for a soccer team while he lowballs the baseball team. It shows how dis-connected rich people are to reality. It is either a dis connect or a blatant dis-regard, i.e. he obviously doesn’t care about anyone or anything because of his extreme wealth. My feelings will change when Hicks sells his baseball team and moves his A#S to England. Take your excuses for losing, your mismanagement and your billionaire ego with you. P.S. We have all been hearing for 35 years that soccer was going to be the sport in America. Fortunately this hasn’t happened and won’t ever. Hockey does better than soccer. Television is driving this bus and unfortunately in most of these third world nations where soccer is huge, some people don’t even have televisions and if they do they are often provided by their government as a means of birth control!
Hey again,dwidregod. It is true that the color the team wears is immaterial, but we DID win with Red, so I suppose you might call my campaign symbolic.
Next, I couldn’t agree with you more concerning soccer. It was going to move baseball, football and basketball off of the sports map. HARUMFFF to that. They said the same thing about the metric system-I’m sure most of you not born in the 80′s or later will remember that forecast. Wrong again, too.
Last, I couldn’t DIS-agree with you more about someone’s “wealth”. Let’s not put someone who has made it in this great country and made it well by putting them all in the same negative basket. Remember Eddie Gaylord? A very magnanamous man. Seems despite an idiot wife, Ted Turner’s Atlanta Braves have done quite well in baseball, “despite” him owning half of America, or so it seems. I’m not a close follower of the Braves, but it seems Mr. Turner’s money and wealth haven’t been a hindrance to winning baseball. Please don’t put all owners in the same category. The Jerry Colangelos, Peter Angelos, and George Steinbrenners ruin the name of baseball owners, but let’s not knock an owner simply because he has money. Would we want to sell the team to an out-of-state owner who only saw the team as an investment, or do we want someone who we see sitting in the dugout box most alot of games, who is from here, and seems to have deep-enough pockets to compete in this insane and revolving free agency system?
One point: I go to TCU basketball games and pay $4 for a 32-oz Pepsi. About the same for comparable at the old ballyard. That’s just the way it is in modern sports. It’s most all sports who gouge, especially at the Professional level…except Professional soccer, who doesn’t have many fans anyway.
So, dwidregod, it isn’t Tom Hicks who should get your ire, it is Pro sports. The days of $1 parking is over, sad to say. Why do you think there is Ameriquest Field anyway? Because Arlington Stadium didn’t have enough luxury boxes for the corporate snooties to sip Chardonnay in air-conditioned comfort whilst watching B.W. swing and miss. I don’t like it either, but we “ain’t” going back, unfortunately, because big TV and corporate revenue pump dollars into buying Michael Young’s contract or the “empty golf shirt’s” retirement at the links…er, consulting. I’d go back to the old system in a heartbeat, but I don’t feel it’s possible to return once the horses are out of the barn. Overall, T.R…do you feel Tom Hicks is a positive or a negative? I’d say he is still a positive, despite the incredibly stupid $252 million contract to A-Fraud, which I don’t know how long we still have to pay on, or Chan Ho-Ho.
Bingo, you’re right about Ted Turner, especially his annoying wife. But the Braves didn’t start winning until Turner butted out of the personnel dept. and let the baseball men run the show, something Hicks still has a problem doing.
As for the $10 parking and $7 beer that dwidregod complained about, you’re also right about that. The $10 parking fee is pretty standard, and $7 beer likewise.
Let’s face it people. Things will NEVER be as they once were. TV calls the shots for everything now because of the M-O-N-E-Y. Sports is no longer just for fun, it’s a serious business, both for the owners AND players. It’s all driven by money, and that just mirrors society in general now. Sad fact, but it’s true.
This is my perception of the situation. Hey, bingosinatra, I am not against personal wealth, nor am i against Hicks making money, I too am a capitalist. However, when I go to a sporting or entertainment event, which I often do, I know what I am getting into when i go there. I know that i am paying inflated prices to be entertained and watch a game or other event. This is the price of being there, the rules of the game, the system i am operating under. I pay the price! What burns me about Hicks, is that he acts like, or it appears like he doesn’t or didn’t know what he was getting into when he bought the Rangers. He moans and complains about free-agents, the cost of doing business, about the bottom line and then spends $225 million on a soccer team? Ridiculous! In other words he doesn’t want to pay the price! What do you think his baseball players think about this? Did he not know, could he not see that owning a professional baseball team is an expensive proposition? Did he not know the cost of doing business? Did he not know the system that he is operating under. How long have baseball contracts been escalating? Since the 1970′s with the advent of free-agency. Who has the strongest Union in sports? It ain’t Football or Basketball. When Hicks bought this team and relied on public support to fund his stadium with the expectation that fans would support and attend, then he has a duty to put a competitive team on the field. This is the fourth largest media market in the the nation and this area deserves a baseball champion, I have been waiting since the Rangers came here and would like to see it in my lifetime. Does Hicks not know how revered he would be and how much money he would make if the Rangers won the World Series? In essence it ain’t about the money its about wins and losses. I am personally tired of the losing and will not stop complaining about his lack of committment to winning until either the Rangers start winning or Hicks sells the team.
I would take Steinbrenner and his issues over Hicks any day. At least Steinbrenner invests in his product and doesn’t complain about the cost of competing in a free market. The love of money is the root of all evil hondohr33!
I guess one corollary to my last example with buying Pepsi at TCU basketball games for $4.00. Ridiculous! This is very similar to prices at the ol’ ballyard now called Ameriquest. Say Coke has the exclusive contract at Ameriquest, which I think they do. Why not let Pepsi in and compete and charge $2.50 for the same 32-oz. drink? Let’s see if Coke would remain at $4.00 very long. Competition would help the fan’s pocketbook, and make ol’ Tom look like he was serving the fans at the same time. Problem is, like everything else in this “CORPORATE” world, Coke has to have an exclusive contract so Coke can charge whatever they want, because the hot fans at the ballyard are captive customers. I say, let Pepsi in, for example, and you’d see lower prices with competition. But the “CORPORATE” world we live in won’t permit such innovation. Oh well, that’s my 4 cents worth on the subject–we started talking about Rick Helling. Luv ya Rick! Thanks for the memories. Whenever we have a Ranger “Winning the Division” reunion, please come. Ranger fans and players haven’t exactly had their social calenders filled up with “Winning the Division” Rangers parties very often. Come Rick and tell all your friends. You’ve earned your place in the sun for helping to bring the fleeting Division title to us not so many years ago.
Georgey Boy Steinbrenner also has an insane TV deal that just about guarantees the Yankees make money every year. They can afford to overpay for players, et al the Shawn Chacons of the world, and not even flinch.
For anybody else who saw my note a couple days ago to eightgleasons about a great site for team-by-team history, I got the site wrong. It is actually http://www.baseballlibrary.com and it is incredible. All fans should check it out.
Thanks for paying tribute, TR…more than anything, Helling’s guts personified the ’96 club’s first playoff birth. He took pride in his job and you never heard about a pitching coach having to tell him that he just needs to “trust his stuff”. Adios, Amigo!
Although Rick Helling was a very small piece of our first AL West championship (1996 1-2 with a 7.52 era) He was the workhorse of the 98 championship team with a 20 win 7 loss season and a 4.41 era. The thing that stands out in my mind was the tenacity of the entire pitching staff in those days. As stated earlier, as a collective group that staff and the 96 staff had a swagger about them. No hype, no huge names just pitchers who wanted the ball every 5th day.
In looking at the type of Ranger team Rick and Sele helped lead in the 98 campaign, one can only be optimistic that the same type of pitching is being assembled with this years team.
Thank you for the memories Mr. Helling! Good luck in your retirement.